A HWC newsflash: welcome to the big leagues, Derek Holland

We knew this would happen at some point this season (well something akin to this, anyway)... but I don't think anybody could've predicted it would happen quite this quickly.


Josh Rupe has been designated for assignment, and Derek Holland has been purchased from Oklahoma City.

Apparently Holland will work out of the bullpen for now as a long reliever, eventually moving into the rotation once his performance merits it or there's an opening (whenever the Rangers get fed up with Matt Harrison's inability to miss bats, maybe?)

Anyway... WOW.

Several hours after first hearing about this, I'm still slightly shocked at the Rangers sudden aggressiveness with Holland. Desperation to shore up the second worst bullpen in the majors (in terms of runs allowed per game) seems to have taken precedence over patience, as the organization suddenly appears more than content to pull out the stops in breaking Holland into the majors. I can't say I'm exactly pleased with this development from that standpoint - personally I would've rather seen Dutch at least get a couple months of AAA innings under his belt as a starter whether they intended to break him in through the bullpen or not. After all, even Joba Chamberlain started 15 games in the minors before he was called up under the now-infamous "Joba rules" in 2007.

As excited as I am to see Holland in the majors, I can't help but think that taking a guy who has just 10 appearances above low-A and throwing him into the majors after one sub-par AAA start is the definition of rushing him. I'm already not sure if breaking a guy who has been a starter his entire minor league career (save for two appearances in rookie ball in 2007) in through the bullpen is the way to go, but, that's really a moot point now. If there's a question to be asked about breaking Holland in by this fashion, the one at the forefront of my mind is wondering if not allowing him to rack up any consistent innings as a starter before completely redefining his role is going to hurt him when (and if) the Rangers decide to slot him into the big league rotation this year. Though the Rangers say they haven't wavered in their view of Holland as a starter in the long term, it's worth noting they haven't ruled out the possibility of leaving him in the bullpen all year long, either. The chances of that actually coming to pass are probably slim to none (or so I would hope, anyway) but that would be something that would disappoint me greatly.

All that said, I think Holland is good enough to overcome any challenges that might arise from this method of development, mainly because there's no reason why a talented young arm with swing-and-miss stuff like his shouldn't force his way into the rotation sooner rather than later given the other current options. With Matt Harrison and supposed swingman Scott Feldman both struggling mightily in the early going and Kris Benson being as expendable as they come, I'm going to predict that not only will a spot for Dutch in the rotation open up by June, but the need to have him there will arise as well. And that's when we'll see the real start of Derek Holland's major league future.